Ad
The National Forest Service Logo
icon-add Observation
Forecasts
Logan Ogden Salt Lake Provo Uintas Skyline Moab Abajos Weather Archives How to read the forecast
Observations & Avalanches
Submit Observation NEW - Observations Explorer All Observations Avalanches Fatalities Place Names Map Archives
Education
Avalanche Awareness Develop Skills On-Snow Courses Resources and Tutorials
Events
Store
About
Contact Who we are Core Values Staff Board of Directors Past Forecasters Sponsors Annual Reports Sign In
Blog
icon-add Observation
Donate / Join

Forecast for the Salt Lake Area Mountains

Mark Staples
Issued by Mark Staples for
Tuesday, November 22, 2016

With 8-12 inches of new snow falling on dirt or only a few inches of damp snow, avalanche conditions are generally safe and the avalanche danger is LOW. However, the definition of this danger rating allows for unstable snow in isolated places which will be north facing slopes at the highest elevations where pockets of old, weak snow may not have bonded well to this new snow.

Drew will issue the next advisory Thursday morning, and we will continue issuing intermittent updates depending on the weather.

Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
Learn how to read the forecast here
Special Announcements

Little Cottonwood Canyon Backcountry Closure tonight: UDOT will be sighting-in and testing their highway weapons in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Wednesday Novemeber 23, 2016. The ENTIRE LCC backcountry will be closed from 8pm on Tuesday night to 8am Wednesday. Highway 210 will close at B gate from 6am on Wednesday to 7:30am. ALSO, please remember that the LCC backcountry closures extend 1000 meters off the ridgeline into Big Cottonwood Canyon. Highway and backcountry opening times are estimated.

Some ski resorts have closed their mountain to uphill traffic, including SNOWBIRD. If you're heading to a ski area please check in with the individual ski resort and find out their uphill traffic policies. If you walk up one ski area with another adjacent to it, please respect and check in with the sister resort before riding down into their resort. More info and links to the resorts here.

Between now and Jan 15th: Donate to the Utah Avalanche Center by shopping at Whole Foods Market Utah! When you visit any Utah Whole Foods Market locations, bring your re-usable bags, Whole Foods will donate a dime per bag to the Utah Avalanche Center - if you say DONATE my bag credit.

Weather and Snow

Despite heavy rain in the valleys, the mountains received 8-12 inches of dense snow above 9000 feet containing 1.3 inches of water. At 7000 feet rain turned to snow late yesterday with only about 3 inches of snow accumulating at this elevation. This morning as skies began clearing and the storm exited the area, mountain temperatures dropped into the low 20's and high teens F while temperatures were at freezing at 7000 feet. Light westerly winds were blowing 5 mph gusting to 15 mph.

Recent Avalanches

UPDATED: A skier triggered a slide on Mt Baldy in Little Cottonwood Canyon today on a north facing chute at 11,000 ft. We sincerely appreciate the skier's willingness to share more info about this slide for the benefit of the everyone. More info here.

Ad
Avalanche Problem #1
New Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description

There wasn't much existing snow prior to this storm, and on most slopes, new snow fell on bare ground. The greatest danger today is hitting rocks. On north facing slopes above 9000 feet, there was about 4 inches of old snow prior to this storm. As Drew found two days ago, warm weather made the preexisting snow damp up to almost 10,000 feet and it should bond well to this new snow. The main avalanche concern will be soft storm slabs at the highest elevations in isolated places where the old snow remained cold and weak and may not bond well with the new snow.

The photo below shows dense new snow on top of old weak snow. This layering can produce avalanches in isolated locations at the highest north facing slopes.

Check out the video below showing the distribution of old snow from aerial footage collected at the end of last week.

Aerial Mapping of the Wasatch from Trent Meisenheimer on Vimeo.

Additional Information

A short lived ridge of high pressure will bring some sunshine and drier conditions today. Mountain temperatures will rise into the upper 20's and low 30's F and winds will shift to the NW blowing 5-15 mph. This ridge will exit the area by tomorrow as quick moving storm approaches with snowfall starting tomorrow afternoon with the chance for enhanced snowfall due to the lake effect.

General Announcements

Remember your information can save lives. If you see anything we should know about, please help us out by submitting snow and avalanche conditions. You can also call us at 801-524-5304, email by clicking HERE, or include #utavy in your tweet or Instagram.

To get help in an emergency (to request a rescue) in the Wasatch, call 911. Be prepared to give your GPS coordinates or the run name. Dispatchers have a copy of the Wasatch Backcountry Ski map.

Backcountry Emergencies. It outlines your step-by-step method in the event of a winter backcountry incident.

If you trigger an avalanche in the backcountry, but no one is hurt and you do not need assistance, please notify the nearest ski area dispatch to avoid a needless response by rescue teams. Thanks.

EMAIL ADVISORY If you would like to get the daily advisory by email you will need to subscribe here.​

DAWN PATROL Hotline updated daily by 5-530am - 888-999-4019 option 8.

TWITTER Updates for your mobile phone - DETAILS

UDOT canyon closures: LINK TO UDOT, or on Twitter, follow @UDOTavy, @CanyonAlerts or @AltaCentral

Utah Avalanche Center mobile app - Get your advisory on your iPhone along with great navigation and rescue tools.

Powderbird Helicopter Skiing - Blog/itinerary for the day

Lost or Found something in the backcountry? - http://nolofo.com/

Ski Utah mobile snow updates

To those skinning uphill at resorts: it is critical to know the resort policy on uphill travel. You can see the uphill travel policy for each resort here.

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you shop from Backcountry.com or REI: Click this link for Backcountry.com or this link to REI, shop, and they will donate a percent of your purchase price to the UAC. Both offer free shipping (with some conditions) so this costs you nothing!

Benefit the Utah Avalanche Center when you buy or sell on ebay - set the Utah Avalanche Center as a favorite non-profit in your ebay account here and click on ebay gives when you buy or sell. You can choose to have your seller fees donated to the UAC, which doesn't cost you a penny.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done. This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always exist.

Next forecast >